Rick Barnes provides update on return of Julian Phillips, Josiah-Jordan James

Rick Barnes and his Tennessee team suffered another loss on Tuesday, falling to Texas A&M by a score of 68-63.

It meant Tennessee has now dropped four of their last five games. Afterwards, Barnes touched on the availability of two players the Volunteers have been sorely missing, Julian Phillips and Josiah-Jordan James.

“It’s on them,” stated Barnes. “I have to believe they are doing everything they can to get back. I believe that. I have to believe it with all my heart because they’re competitive. They want to play but, again, no one is working any harder than what (trainer) Chad (Newman) and (strength coach) Garrett (Medenwald) are. They’re doing what we ask them to do but we don’t want them to play unless they’re healthy.”

Alas, Tennessee has been one of the top teams in the nation, but they’ve had plenty of bugaboos that have led to losses. They’re in a rough stretch, but Rick Barnes and the Volunteers have the perfect chance to rebound in their next game, which comes Saturday against South Carolina.

Hopefully both Julian Phillips and Josiah-Jordan James will be healthy enough to give it a go soon. The Volunteers would certainly like to ramp them up for the SEC Tournament and subsequent NCAA Tournament.

Rick Barnes addresses controversial call, foul total vs. Texas A&M

Rick Barnes was not thrilled with Tennessee, specifically how his Volunteers played on Tuesday in a loss against Texas A&M.

It was a hard fought game, and both squads were handicapped by the amount of fouls they accumulated, which Barnes touched on afterwards.

“It’s tough but it was probably a good thing for us because it gave us some extra time to rest some guy,” stated Barnes, regarding Tennessee’s foul trouble. “From that point it probably helped us a little bit tonight because we shortened our rotation so from that point it might have helped us a little bit. Just proud, again Santi hasn’t practiced, you guys saw it, he hasn’t practiced the last couple days and came into shootaround and really mentally tried to get done what he needed to get done. 

“I’m really proud of Olivier fighting through playing the most minutes in a physical game against good players inside. Just continuing to battle and play.”

However, one specific play can be pointed towards as the zenith of Tuesday’s game, a scuffle for a loose ball late where Texas A&M was given a timeout instead of going to the possession arrow. Barnes wasn’t happy about the controversial ruling.

“Well they said he hadn’t fouled. My only concern was a timeout was called from way down on the bench. I don’t think that’s allowed in a scrum scenario like that,” stated Barnes. “But if the officials saw that they had the ball then it’s obviously the right call. 

“It’s been a long time coming since I’ve seen a coach, referee call a timeout when they (coach) are 50 feet from the play in a scrum. But if he saw it, he saw it. He’s a terrific official and if he saw it he did the right thing.”